This Beautiful Music Video Explores the Power of Immortal Love

Love is the ultimate gift of life, yet it can sometimes be viewed as a curse because we humans are mortal – and our time is both precious, and fleeting. The music video below, entitled “The Curse”, by Josh Ritter tells a beautiful story, which articulates the pain of mortality, but touches the soul on a deep level, because it conveys the immortal nature of love.

Both love and life are two of the greatest mysteries of our universe, and the power of both are unquantifiable…

The compelling lyrics are affecting, and truly brought to life through the magic(k) of these marionettes.

He opens his eyes falls in love at first sightWith the girl in the doorwayWhat beautiful lines and how full of lifeAfter thousands of years what a face to wake up toHe holds back a sigh as she touches his armShe dusts off the bed where ’til now he’s been sleepingAnd under miles of stone, the dried fig of his heartUnder scarab and bone starts back to its beating

She carries him home in a beautiful boatHe watches the sea from a porthole in stowageHe can hear all she says as she sits by his bedAnd one day his lips answer her in her own languageThe days quickly pass he loves making her laughThe first time he moves it’s her hair that he touchesShe asks, “Are you cursed?” He says, “I think that I’m cured”Then he talks of the Nile and the girls in bulrushes

In New York he is laid in a glass covered caseHe pretends he is dead people crowd round to see himBut each night she comes round and the two wander downThe halls of the tomb that she calls a museumOften he stops to rest but then less and lessThen it’s her that looks tired staying up asking questionsHe learns how to read from the papers that sheIs writing about him and he makes corrections

It’s his face on her book more and more come to lookFamilies from Iowa, upper west sidersThen one day it’s too much he decides to get upAnd as chaos ensues he walks outside to find herShe’s using a cane and her face looks too paleBut she’s happy to see him as they walk he supports herShe asks, “Are you cursed?” but his answer’s obscuredIn a sandstorm of flashbulbs and rowdy reporters

Such reanimation the two tour the nationHe gets out of limos he meets other womenHe speaks of her fondly their nights in the museumBut she’s just one more rag now he’s dragging behind himShe stops going out she just lies there in bedIn hotels in whatever towns they are speakingThen her face starts to set and her hands start to foldAnd one day the dried fig of her heart stops its beating

Long ago on the ship she asked, “Why pyramids?”He said, “Think of them as an immense invitation”She asked, “Are you cursed?” He said, “I think that I’m cured”Then he kissed her and hoped that she’d forget that question